Go Pro is GO!

I have added a new video to the video page! Here's the first part of the compilation I did from the Go Pro from our ride at the weekend. So much fun!

Ride / play safe x

Red mist on the clear?

It's been a good couple of days. Yesterday, Rio lead out his own little hack around the village. He was responsive, patient, and even when he had a little worry in the scary corner as we left the field, he worked through it with me. What a brave boy. We stopped and started, did collected walking, had a beautifully controlled steady trot, and even managed to stand and wait for others without fidgeting. Is this really my boy? 

It seems that the mists of alfa anger may be lifting. Or it may just be that he's enjoying regular work. Either way, it made for an absolutely delightful ride today when we hit Belstead in the trailer with a couple of friends. It's been a while since we've done this ride with anyone other than us and Sarah with Franks. I wasn't sure what he'd be like! 

I was given the scary responsibility of riding with the Go Pro today (Sarah's chrimbo prezzy!) and it was pretty cool. It amazed me just how light it was - you just about forget it's there, which is great. Not so great when you gasp, or talk - we all know how bad we sound on video, right? Seeing some of the footage at the end made it worthwhile, there's something super funky about re-living a brilliant hack, and seeing your boy's ears bobbing along! Fingers crossed I can get my mitts on the footage so I can post some here for you in the near future. For now, these lovely shots of Rio's bottom will have to suffice. 

We had a couple of moments, he lost his back end a couple of times going over a slightly icy bridge, that wasn't so fun. Then on the way back someone had gone to hold their dog but stepped back out of obvious view, so that was clearly terrifying, and we did an almighty side step/leap off the track onto the field - sorry Mr Farmer Man. I was mostly relieved not to have toppled off in full public recorded view of the camera! That would have been embarrassing... 

We also did a couple of jumps (inadvertently!) one on the first canter track, where we hopped a puddle, and another jump going up the canter hill. I'm not sure if he thought he'd reached the top and was trying to jump the crest again, or whether he was just getting excitable. He did really go for it on the second run! He also had a super hissy fit at the top whilst we waited for the others, foot stomping and all! Despite all that, he was far less sweaty today, even with his exercise rug on. His girth line was sweaty, but thanks to his new Le Mieux numnah, and hopefully him being a little fitter, he had only traces of sweat under the saddle. Even his armpits weren't sweaty like usual!

All in all, a very enjoyable end to my time off between jobs. Tomorrow I start my new role, and I must admit to being a tad nervous! Our ride today was a perfect distraction. Now to see next weekend if it's alfa rage that was causing his grumpiness, or if it is just lack of work... Bring on the Spring!

Ride / play safe x

Merry Christmas, the rocky start...

Merry Christmas everyone!

We made it out for our Christmas day ride yesterday, after a rocky start at the yard. Rio has been a beautiful field ornament for a week and a half so a good blast was in order to blow away those cobwebs. However, when I went to lead him around the barn to go onto the trailer, and he spooked and fell over, that wasn't the first thought on my mind. Luckily he had his cooler on, so whilst he did scuff a chunk of hair off his left knee, the main damage was to his cooler rug... He now has armpit ventilation! 

He was a bit of a sod to load, having freaked himself out, but after walking a few circuits of the car park, he chilled out and off we went. True to form and living up to expectations, he was super fresh, and we had a bouncy, joggy walk down the track. We had walking and trying to sneak trot strides in, trotting and dropping in canter strides, and cantering with gallop thrown in for good measure! We hopped puddles and dips in the track, yelled ahead for Sarah and Franks to hang on a sec (little did I realise that we were in fact going so fast, we'd already made it to the end of the track, and they were then pulling up anyway!) 

Franks was being such a good boy that we even got to take lead file for a bit, so that Rio could practice his bravery. We went up the super steep hill, where much to my amusement, we launched up and over the crest, and had a lovely canter after that, and then we went out for a trot back towards the trailer on the stubble field. Inevitably, that turned into a canter, which was not so bad until Rio tried to drop his head! Little bugger. I brought him back, and we had a great trot along the grass track, and walked down the hill. Rio was still up for it, so we decided to turn them around and have one last blast! 

Rio went nuts for it, and I had my first "ohmigosh" canter moment. We went hard up the hill, and as we levelled out, Rio's bottom tucked in, his back came up, and we had the perfect canter and I felt on top of the world. (I didn't realise this until afterwards when I explained the sensation to Sarah). He was still up for it, he's obviously feeling much better for having his clip and not being a sweaty blob! When we went to go back down the hill again, he decided that walking was not an option, and much to my horror we trotted pretty much the whole way down. EEK. We survived though! I would like to say that I did stay rather calm (surprisingly).

We even found the Christmas Star on our travels! All in all, I was super pleased that I bit the bullet and took him out despite my concerns. If I can do that after a week and a half of him doing nothing, and come out of it smiling - darn it, I can do anything! Rio enjoyed a special Christmas dinner after working hard. Two parsnips, two carrots and an apple with his usual feed. Yum yum. 

So this afternoon, we did. I tacked him up and we went out around the village on our own. It was rather bumpy. I'm not sure if Rio was trying out Piaffe, but aside from some nice walking down one of the roads, it was certainly not the smoothest ride we've had. We made it though! I was a bit naughty, and forgot to put his sports boots on, which I regretted when I realised after we did the scopiest trot I've had from him on the way back (on the road...) I was hoping it would settle him a bit. We covered the ground faster than I've ever known him to. 

I'm not sure if I'd mentioned the lumpy bump and its prognosis from the second (better) vet when Rio had his jabs. It is a splint, so now it's just a case of looking after it (wearing boots. Please!) and monitoring it. On the downside - it's close to his knee, so I just hope that it's not going to interfere in his later years. Also - a footnote on his clip - it's really not so great now it's growing out a bit again. There are lines everywhere, so that's definitely something I'm going to have to work on for next time... I did get show trimmers for Christmas though, so we will be clipping away at those! 

I'm hoping to get chance to ride tomorrow afternoon, but it all depends on this horrible rainy weather - it sounds awful out there at the moment. Me and hubster are away for a few days after tomorrow night to have a break, so Rio will be mooching around until new year's day when hopefully the fun recommences. Bless his little patchwork rug. He's got a couple of friends at the yard looking out for him whilst I'm away, I'm just hoping the weather isn't too horrible so his rug doesn't end up soaked through! 

Ride / play safe x

Adventures with Archie

 

So I was super excited when I stumbled across a link to my blog post on Haynet this week! It is currently featuring in the "Blog posts not to be missed" column. Awesome.

I was feeling a bit lethargic again this morning, we had a lovely ride out yesterday morning around the village and I spent the rest of the day chilling at the yard with friends. I had more or less accepted that I was probably not going to ride today, and had taken up a comfortable spot sitting in the barn doorway chatting. Sarah arrived not long after me, and quickly said she was going to go and get her pony in to have a mooch around the village. 

I decided that I should be a good pony mummy and take Rio out as well, and duly wandered down to the field to collect him. He's been a bit cheeky again just recently and was up to his games again coming out of the field today. I am still keeping hold of my schooling whip when bringing him in to use as a last resort encouragement. He's getting a little better, but he just plays silly when he feels like it. Darn this spring grass coming through. He will be coming up a couple of mornings this week to have his breakfast outside the gate to continue to try and encourage him to come out a bit more easily.

Well our mooch was a little more eventful than we had initially thought it would be, both boys were on their toes as it was a bit windy. We made it to the top corner of the field and they both spooked, including a bit of a spin and trying to bolt, silly boys. Sarah and I both thought we were in for a gallop across the field, but thankfully they listened and that was that. We made it around the village with little trouble and a bit of jogging (that's going to have to stop!) but decided it might be safer to split the boys up coming back across the field as they were still both jogging along. Rio settled a little once we got around the top corner so he had a longer rein so he could walk out the rest of the way. All was going well, we ended up a little way behind Sarah as we went the slightly longer way, and we saw her go past on the other side of the hedge down the drive. Turning on to the drive, we had a pleasant walk going, then all of a sudden we were cantering full pelt onto the yard... I still don't know what set him off, but that was certainly one of our more eventful rides to date!

See the spike in speed right at the end? Haha. I'm absolutely over the moon to say that I honestly feel my seat is developing, I didn't have my usual "blind panic mode" setting at any point today, and didn't feel at any point I was coming off. Woot woot. 

Once we had gotten some nibbles to sustain us, it was Archie's turn for some fun! Parelli style. He was such a superstar, here are some photos so you can see him being a total dude:

Ride safe x

Beat the weekday blues

Step One

Plan a run of the mill hack out around the village with a couple of friends after work

Step Two

Rush out of work excited to go for said ride, and arrive at yard, get changed, and prepare to get pony in

Step Three

Be confronted with decision between run of the mill hack around village with one friend, or small road trip out to the local spot we visited not long ago with the other...

Step Four

Apologise to friend and skip down to field to retrieve pony before loading him on to the trailer (where he waits for his friend as he knows he surely can't be going alone??) before walking all the way up the ramp

Step Five

Rush around grabbing various essential tack and equipment

Step Six

On the road! Tack up, ride out, and explore. 

Step Seven

Take a route your friend hasn't done before, and encounter a ditch that must be jumped to reach the desired destination. (Yes, we jumped our first ditch! Exciting!) Duck and dive to avoid several branches, including ones that are flying at you from where friend has been through them.

Step Eight

Mix it up. Put your horse in front of your friend's who doesn't like being behind most of the time. Have a nice few minutes before a train comes past and gets him excited, causing him to headbutt your horse in the bum and your horse to pop forward in shock a few steps. Take the sensible option and go back behind.

Step Nine

Walk over a fallen tree that's almost too big to just walk over. Almost. Be pleasantly surprised when he doesn't opt to jump it. 

Step Ten

Take a nice casual walk back through the woods, including tackling a short but steep hill (going down!)  and feeling very pleased when he doesn't rush it. Untack, wash off the sweaty ponies, bribe pony up ramp with hay when he decides watching traffic is more interesting than loading, and head home feeling like it's the weekend! Turn out for first time with no rug because of the sweatiness... Forget that it's Friday tomorrow!

Best Thursday :) 

Ride safe x